Conventionally, golf games are available, which offer the experience of playing golf on a virtual golf course. In conventional golf games, pseudo golf play proceeds with a player character hitting a ball (hereinafter also referred to as “shot”). In conventional golf games, the operation of hitting the ball (shot operation) generally requires making three inputs via particular buttons of the controller of the game machine. In addition, it is common that in shot operation a gauge with a cursor which moves in response to the shot operation is displayed, to clearly, visually show button input timing.
An exemplary illustration of the operation of performing the aforementioned three inputs is described with reference to FIGS. 11A to 11C. In the description, an example is provided in which the above gauge is displayed. FIGS. 11A to 11C are illustrations showing exemplary displays of the gauge used in shot operation in a conventional golf game. FIG. 11A is an illustration showing a gauge at the start of a shot operation. In the shot operation, the player performs three inputs in total to controller buttons. A first input corresponds to an operation of starting a shot, a second input corresponds to an operation of determining shot power (strength of shot), and a third input corresponds to an operation of determining a hit location of a ball for the shot.
Before starting a shot operation, a cursor 92 in a gauge 91 is positioned at a line 93 which indicates a reference position. The reference position indicates the position of the cursor at the time of starting a shot operation, and is a position which serves as the reference for determining the hit location of the ball. When the player performs a first button input, the shot operation starts. That is, the cursor 92 displayed at the position of the line 93 starts moving at a constant speed in the left direction, in response to the first button input (see FIG. 11B). Thereafter, the cursor 92 reverses at the left end of the gauge 91 and moves back to the right end of the gauge 91, unless a third input is performed. The second input is performed while the cursor 92 is moving.
FIG. 11B is an illustration showing the gauge at the time of the second button input in the shot operation. When the player performs the second button input, the strength at which the ball is hit is determined. That is, the position of the cursor 92 at the time of the second button input (first position) indicates the shot power. Specifically, the longer the distance between the reference position and the first position, the greater the shot power. A line, which indicates the first position, is continuously displayed even after the second button input is performed (see FIG. 11C).
FIG. 11C is an illustration showing the gauge at the time of the third button input in the shot operation. When the third button input is performed, the hit location for hitting the ball is determined. That is, the cursor being moved stops in response to the third button input. The stop position of the cursor, i.e., the position of the cursor 92 at the time of the third button input (second position), indicates the hit location of a ball for a shot. The direction in which the shot ball travels is related to the hit location, and thus by determining the second position the direction in which the ball travels is determined. Specifically, if the second position deviates to the right side from the reference position (i.e., the timing of performing the third button input by the player is too late), a ball is hooked and therefore the ball curves to the left side. By contrast, if the second position deviates towards the left side from the reference position (i.e., the timing of performing the third button input by the player is too early), a ball is sliced and therefore the ball curves to the right side. Thus, the closer the hit location to the reference position, the more chance the player has of hitting the ball straight.
The carry, direction, etc. of the ball are calculated according to the shot power and hit location determined in the manner described above, and a scene in which the ball is traveling is displayed. The player can hit his/her desired shot by adjusting the timing of performing the aforementioned three button inputs.
The above-described operation of performing three button inputs (three input operations) is employed not only in the shot operation for golf games but also in various operations of moving an object, such as a cast operation of casting bait in a fishing game and an operation of kicking a ball in a football game.
Players of, for example, golf games include elderly people and young children as well as beginners who are not familiar with playing games, and therefore, some of them may find the above three input operations difficult. In particular, the third button input (the operation of determining the hit location) usually requires precise input timing for achieving a desired shot, and thus even with a small delay in input timing, the direction of hitting the ball may deviate greatly from the player's desired direction. Thus, players who cannot perform the three input operations well are unable to hit the ball well, making it difficult for the players to fully enjoy, for example, conventional golf games.
In golf games, as in real golf, the player enjoys thinking about how to conquer the course, in addition to enjoying hitting the ball well. However, players who cannot hit the ball well are not as likely to enjoy thinking about how to conquer the course. Thus, in conventional golf games, players who are not good at performing the three input operations are unable to hit the ball well, and accordingly the players are not as likely to enjoy the other pleasure of golf games, such as, thinking about how to conquer the course.
As described above, in conventional golf games, because of the difficulty of shot operation, some players cannot fully enjoy the true nature of the golf game.
For easier shot operation, for example, the third button input may be omitted. In this method, instead of determining the hit location of the ball by the third button input by the player, the hit location is determined at a predetermined location by the game machine. This makes it possible for the player to perform the shot operation well only with the above-described first and second button inputs, without the third button input. However, with this method, the player can hit his/her desired shot too easily and thus the difficulty level of the game gets too low. As a result, advanced players who are familiar with playing games find that such a game is not enough of a challenge. In other words, the method of simply omitting the third button input facilitates the shot operation, but impairs the nature of the game, such as complexity and profundity of the golf game.
Therefore, a feature of the present exemplary embodiments is to provide a game machine and a game program which allow a wide variety of players to enjoy a game, represented by a golf game, in which the player performs an operation of moving an object.
Another feature of the present exemplary embodiments is to provide a game machine and a game program which allow the player to fully enjoy the true nature of the golf game.
Still another feature of the present exemplary embodiments is to provide a game machine and a game program which realize a golf game with easy operation and an enhanced nature.
In order to overcome the foregoing problems, the present exemplary embodiments employ the following configurations. It is to be understood that reference numerals, supplemental remarks, etc. in parentheses are provided, for the purpose of helping to understand the present exemplary embodiments, to show the corresponding relationship with an embodiment, as will be described later, and thus are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The present exemplary embodiments have the following features to attain the features mentioned above.
A first aspect of an exemplary embodiment is directed to a golf game machine (3) which displays on a display device (2) a scene in which a ball hit by a player character (71) is traveling in a game field according to a shot power and a hit location. In addition, the golf game machine displays on the display device a gauge (77) and a cursor (78) moving on the gauge. The shot power is set in relation to a first position of the cursor being moved. The hit location is set in relation to a second position at which movement of the cursor stops. The golf game machine comprises: a controller (6) having a plurality of control switches; a moving start processing mechanism (a CPU 31 for performing S3 and S5; hereinafter simply only step numbers are provided); an input receiving mechanism (S12); a first position determining mechanism (S17, S32, and S36); and a second position determining mechanism (S17 and S24). The moving start processing mechanism receives a first input to the controller and allows the cursor to start moving in response to the first input. The input receiving mechanism receives, as a second input to the controller, an input to a first control switch (63) among the plurality of control switches or a second control switch (62) among the plurality of control switches which is different from the first control switch. The first position determining mechanism determines, when the second input to the first control switch is received by the input receiving mechanism, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the second input as the first position. In addition, the first position determining mechanism receives a third input to the controller and determines a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the third input as the second position. The second position determining mechanism determines, when the second input to the second control switch is received by the input receiving mechanism, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the second input as the first position, and determines a given position on the gauge as the second position.
According to the above aspect, by inputting either the first control switch or the second control switch for the second input which is performed subsequent to the first input, the player can select either the function of performing an operation in which the third input is omitted (auto shot operation function) or the function of performing an operation which requires the third input (manual shot operation function). Thus, the auto shot operation function with easy shot operation and the manual shot operation function which allows detailed operation can coexist in a series of shot operation. Accordingly, the player can select either one of the operations according to his/her skill level in the game. In addition, the player can select either one of the operations according to his/her skill level of a golf course and the difficulty level of “lie” (i.e., state of a ball at rest). Thus, according to this aspect, a golf game machine can be provided which allows a wide variety of players, such as beginner, young, and advanced game players, to enjoy the golf game.
Further, by selecting the auto shot operation function, even players who are not good at performing shot operation can hit his/her ideal (or close to ideal) shot. Therefore, any player can experience the pleasure of the golf game, “thinking about how to conquer the course,” which players who are not good at shot operation cannot experience in conventional golf games. Thus, according to the present aspect, a game machine can be provided which allows the player to fully enjoy the true nature of the golf game.
Moreover, according to the above-described aspect, the selection of shot function can be made, without the need to perform complicated setting operation, more easily than the case where the auto shot operation function and the manual shot operation function need to be preset every time a shot is made. For example, a game machine which merely adopts two operations, i.e., manual shot operation and auto shot operation, requires the selection operation of selecting one of the two operations. In this case, the player needs to perform the selection operation in addition to shot operation. For example, in cases where the player needs to perform the selection operation every time the player switches between the two operations, the operation becomes very tricky. In addition, in cases, for example, where a plurality of players take turns controlling one player character, the selection operation needs to be performed every time the player is switched, making the operation very tricky. Thus, in a game machine which merely adopts the above two operations, the effect of freely selecting the two operations is halved due to the above-described tricky selection operation. On the other hand, according to the present aspect, since the player does not need to perform the selection operation in addition to shot operation, the player can easily select either one of the two operations, making it possible to provide an easy-to-use game machine.
The second position determining mechanism may determine the second position so as to be randomly positioned every time the second input to the second control switch is received by the input receiving mechanism. That is, the second position is determined, every time a shot is made, to be at a random position on the gauge, and the hit location of the ball which is set in relation to the second position, is also determined randomly.
With the above configuration, even when the auto shot operation function is selected, because the hit location is randomly set, the player's ideal hit location is not always fixedly set. In other words, if, in the auto shot operation, the hit location is always at a fixed location, the player who performs the auto shot operation can hit an ideal shot every time, making the shot operation extremely easy, which may possibly impair the nature of the game, such as complexity and profundity of the golf game. On the other hand, according to the present aspect, even if the same operation is performed every time a shot is made, because the hit location is determined on a random basis, even when the auto shot operation function is selected, the shot operation cannot become too easy, and thus the nature of the game of the golf game cannot be impaired.
The golf game machine may further comprise a control-switch image display mechanism (S11). The control-switch image display mechanism displays on the display device a first image and a second image (82b) after the first input is received by the moving start processing mechanism, the first image representing the first control switch, the second image representing the second control switch.
According to the above configuration, after performing the first input, control switches, which are available for the second input, are displayed. This makes it possible to clearly inform the player of which control switch to input next. In addition, this makes it possible to inform the player that there are two types of control switches that the player should input for the second input (in conventional golf games, there is only one type of control switch).
The golf game machine may further comprise a spin direction receiving mechanism (S39), a first direction setting mechanism (S41), and a second direction setting mechanism (S44). The spin direction receiving mechanism receives, as the third input, an input to a third control switch (62) or a fourth control switch (63) which is different from the third control switch, to select a spin direction of the ball. The first direction setting mechanism sets, when the input to the third control switch is received by the spin direction receiving mechanism, the spin direction of the ball to a first direction. The second direction setting mechanism sets, when the input to the fourth control switch is received by the spin direction receiving mechanism, the spin direction of the ball to a second direction which is different from the first direction. In this configuration, the scene in which the player character hits the ball is displayed according to at least the shot power, the hit location, and the spin direction.
According to the above configuration, two types of control switches are assigned to the third input, and thus it is possible to change the spin direction of the ball by shot operation. That is, the player can set, by shot operation, the spin direction of the ball in addition to the shot power and hit location. This increases the variation of shot operation, enhancing the nature of the game of the golf game. For example, when the first direction is set as the topspin direction and the second direction is set as the backspin direction, it is possible to put topspin or backspin on the ball by shot operation.
The golf game machine may further comprise a spin strength receiving mechanism (S41 and S44). The spin strength receiving mechanism further receives, after the third input is received by the spin direction receiving mechanism, an input to the third control switch or the fourth control switch as a fourth input, to select a spin strength of the ball. In this configuration, the first direction setting mechanism changes a spin strength of the first direction of the ball depending on when the input to the third control switch is received by the spin strength receiving mechanism and when the input to the fourth control switch is received by the spin strength receiving mechanism. The second direction setting mechanism changes a spin strength of the second direction of the ball depending on when the input to the third control switch is received by the spin strength receiving mechanism and when the input to the fourth control switch is received by the spin strength receiving mechanism.
According to the above configuration, by receiving, after performing the third input, another input (fourth input), the spin strength can be changed. This allows the player to set, by the shot operation, the spin strength, as well as the spin direction of the ball. Accordingly, the variation of shot operation can be further increased, thereby enhancing the nature of the game of the golf game.
Moreover, the golf game machine may further comprise a history image display mechanism (S45). The history image display mechanism displays on the display device, when the second input to the first control switch is received by the input receiving mechanism, a history image (82d to 82g) showing a history of the control switches inputted as the third and fourth inputs.
According to the above configuration, the results of the third and fourth inputs which are inputted by the player are displayed. This allows the player to see the operation performed by the player, and thus the player can know whether the operation performed by the player is the player's desired operation or a misoperation.
A second aspect of an exemplary embodiment is directed to a golf game machine (3) which displays on a display device (2) a scene in which a ball hit by a player character (71) is traveling in a game field according to a shot power and a hit location. In addition, the golf game machine displays on the display device a gauge (77) and a cursor (78) moving on the gauge. The shot power is set in relation to a first position of the cursor being moved. The hit location is set in relation to a second position at which movement of the cursor stops. The golf game machine comprises: a controller (6) having a plurality of control switches; a moving start processing mechanism (S3 and S5); input receiving mechanism (S12); and a second position determining mechanism (S17). The moving start processing mechanism receives a first input to the controller and allows the cursor to start moving in response to the first input. The input receiving mechanism receives a second input to the controller. The second position determining mechanism determines, as the first position, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the second input performed by the input receiving mechanism and, as the second position, a given position on the gauge.
According to the above configuration, because the input for determining the hit location (third input), which is required in a conventional shot operation, is not required, the player can easily perform shot operation. In the operation in which the third input is omitted, such as the one in the present aspect, in cases where the hit location is always at a fixed location, the player can hit an ideal shot every time. This makes the shot operation extremely easy, impairing the nature of the game, such as complexity and profundity of the golf game. On the other hand, according to the present aspect, because the hit location is set randomly, the hit location cannot always be set at the ideal location. Therefore, the shot operation cannot get too easy, and thus the nature of the game of the golf game cannot be impaired. Hence, according to the present aspect, a game machine is provided which realizes a golf game with easy operation and an enhanced nature.
In the above-described first and second aspects, the golf game machine may further comprise a range setting mechanism (S2). The range setting mechanism sets a range (80) on the gauge and changes a width of the range in response to at least one condition selected from the group consisting of circumstances (lie) of the ball, a golf club selected by a player, and characteristics of the player character. In this configuration, the second position determining mechanism determines the second position so as to be randomly positioned within the range set by the range setting mechanism.
According to the above configuration, the range, in which the hit location is randomly set, changes in response to at least one condition selected from the group consisting of circumstances of the ball, a golf club selected by a player, and characteristics of the player character. The circumstances of the ball are based on the concept which includes, for example, the lie of the ball and the brightness of the light which hits the ball. The characteristics of the player character is based on the concept which includes not only the skill value inherent in a player character, but also, the rank, score, etc. of, in cases where a plurality of player characters play at a time, each player character. In the present aspect, the range, in which the hit location can be set, is changed according to the above-described various parameters. By changing the range in which the hit location can be set, the probability of hitting an ideal shot is accordingly changed. As described above, according to the above configuration, the probability of shot can be changed in response to various circumstances of the game, and therefore it is possible to provide a golf game with an enhanced nature.
The golf game machine may further comprise an area display mechanism (S2). The area display mechanism displays on the display device a random area (80), indicating the range set by the range setting mechanism, and a meet area (81), serving as an index for determining the second position, along with the gauge.
According to the above configuration, the meet area, which serves as the index for determining the second position, and the random area, which indicates the range in which the second position, randomly determined, can lie, are displayed. By showing to the player the relationship between such meet area and the random area, the strategy of shot operation performed by the player can be enhanced. Specifically, because the range of the random area changes in response to the situation of the game, by checking the relationship between the random area and the meet area, the player can visually understand the current game situation. For example, if the range of the random area changes in response to the state of lie and the type of club, and the range of the random area is narrower than that of the meet area, the player can evaluate, by viewing the above relationship displayed on the screen, whether the state of lie is good or bad and which club to select, and thus the player can objectively evaluate the difficulty level of the shot. In addition, in cases where the player can select either the manual shot operation function or the auto shot operation function, the player can, by viewing the relationship between the random area and the meet area, evaluate which shot operation to select. For example, if the range of the random area is wider than that of the meet area, the player can see that even if selecting the auto shot operation function the probability of hitting an ideal shot is low, and thus in such a case, the player would select the manual shot operation. As in the above example, by showing to the player the relationship between the meet area and the random area, the player can understand the game situation and can evaluate a shot appropriate to the situation. Thus, according to the above configuration, a golf game with an enhanced nature and high strategy can be provided.
In the above-described first and second aspects, the second position determining mechanism may randomly determine the second position according to a random number.
According to the above configuration, by using a random number, the second position can be easily set randomly.
The golf game machine may further comprise a moving-direction calculation mechanism. The moving-direction calculation mechanism calculates a moving direction of the ball in the game field according to the shot power and the hit location.
The golf game machine may further comprise a tentative hit-location setting mechanism. The tentative hit-location setting mechanism receives, prior to start of movement of the cursor by the moving start processing mechanism, an input of a player's desired tentative hit location on a circular shaped image, which is modeled on the ball displayed on the display device, and sets the tentative hit location. In this configuration, the moving-direction calculation mechanism determines a final hit location by adjusting the tentative hit location according to the second position on the gauge determined by the second position determining mechanism and calculates the moving direction of the ball according to the final hit location and the shot power.
The moving-direction calculation mechanism may determine the final hit location by adjusting the tentative hit location according to a deviation between a meet point displayed on the gauge and the second position.
A third aspect of an exemplary embodiment is directed to a golf game machine (3) which displays on a display device (2) a scene in which a ball hit by a player character 71 is traveling in a game field according to a shot power and a hit location. In addition, the golf game machine displays on the display device a gauge (77) and a cursor (78) moving on the gauge. The shot power is set in relation to a first position of the cursor being moved. The hit location is set in relation to a second position at which movement of the cursor stops. The golf game machine comprises: a controller (6) having a plurality of control switches; a moving start processing mechanism (S3 and S5); a first position determining mechanism (S12 and S17); a second position determining mechanism (S32 and S36); and third position determining mechanism (S24). The moving start processing mechanism receives a first input to the controller and allows the cursor to start moving in response to the first input. The first position determining mechanism receives a second input to the controller and determines, as the first position, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the second input. The second position determining mechanism receives, when the first and second inputs to the control switches present a first input pattern, a third input to the controller, and determines, as the second position, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the third input. The third position determining mechanism determines, when the first and second inputs to the control switches present a second input pattern which is different from the first input pattern, a given position on the gauge as the second position.
According to the above configuration, as in the first aspect, the selection between the manual shot operation function and the auto shot operation function can be made during the shot operation, and therefore the same effects can be obtained as those obtained by the first aspect. The selection between the manual shot operation function and the auto shot operation function can be made according to the input pattern presented by the first and second inputs to the control switches. Therefore, the selection between the manual shot operation function and the auto shot operation function may be made by the first input or alternately by the second input. In addition, such a selection may be made by the combination of the first and second inputs (input pattern).
A fourth aspect of an exemplary embodiment is directed to a game machine (3) which displays on a display device (2) a scene in which an object (ball) moves (is shot) in a game field according to a parameter of a moving distance of the object (shot power) and a parameter of a moving direction of the object (hit location). In addition, the game machine displays on the display device a gauge (77) and a cursor (78) moving on the gauge. The parameter of the moving distance of the object is set in relation to a first position of the cursor being moved. The parameter of the moving direction of the object is set in relation to a second position at which movement of the cursor stops. The game machine comprises: a controller (6) having a plurality of control switches; a moving start processing mechanism (S3 and S5); an input receiving mechanism (S12); a first position determining mechanism (S17, S32, and S36); and second position determining mechanism (S17 and S24). The moving start processing mechanism receives a first input to the controller and allows the cursor to start moving according to the first input. The input receiving mechanism receives, as a second input to the controller, an input to a first control switch (63) among the plurality of control switches or a second control switch (62) among the plurality of control switches which is different from the first control switch. The first position determining mechanism determines, when the second input to the first control switch is received by the input receiving mechanism, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the second input as the first position. In addition, the first position determining mechanism receives a third input to the controller and determines, as the second position, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the third input. The second position determining mechanism determines, when the second input to the second control switch is received by the input receiving mechanism, a position of the cursor at the time of receiving the second input as the first position, and determines a given position on the gauge as the second position.
According to the above configuration, not only in golf games but also in games in which the player performs the operation of moving an object, the player can make a selection between the operation that requires the third input (manual shot operation) and the operation in which the third input is omitted (auto shot operation). Accordingly, the same effects as those obtained by the first aspect can be provided to games other than golf games. For example, the same effects as those obtained by the first aspect can be provided to fishing games, football games, etc.
The above aspect may be provided in the form of a game program to be executed by the computer of the game machine. That is, the functions described in the above first to fourth aspects may be provided to the game machine by a game program. In addition, the functions may be provided in the form of a storage medium having stored thereon such a game program.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present exemplary embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.